70 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



and Niger colony. For advice on sinking wells there are three 

 French mining engineers attached to the department. 



BELGIAN 



In the Congo there is no official geological department in the 

 usual sense, but a permanent mapping commission under Dr. 

 Fourmarier, with sub-commissions on subsidiary branches such as 

 petrology, meets in Brussels every month. Field workers are sent 

 to areas from which information is required and a valuable frame- 

 work of geological knowledge is being built up. When the com- 

 mission was first established it was composed of eminent geologists 

 in Europe, most of whom had not been to Africa, and who only 

 met occasionally. Now, however, it is composed mainly of geolo- 

 gists who have worked in Africa for the mining companies or for 

 the Comite Special du Katanga, and who have placed their results 

 at the disposal of the Government. It is expected that the com- 

 mission's task of making a geological map of the whole Congo on 

 the scale of 1 1500,000 will be completed in a few years' time. It 

 is a matter of debate whether this system of sending out experts 

 for short-term work, which the Congo adopts in other subjects 

 besides geology, is as satisfactory as the organization of a settled 

 geological survey department. British authorities generally con- 

 sider that the settled survey produces more solid results. 



In the Congo most of the purely economic geology is carried 

 out by three large mining companies, the Union Miniere, For- 

 miniere (Societe internationale forestiere et miniere du Congo), 

 and Compagnie Miniere des Grand Lacs (Societe des Mines d'Or 

 de Kilo-moto), each of which has a special geological department 

 established in the Congo itself. In addition, financial concerns 

 such as the Banque de Bruxelles and Credit General du Congo 

 have staffs of geologists and mining experts who frequently go into 

 the field. The Comite Special du Katanga has a permanent geological 

 department in Africa as well as geologists in Brussels, who visit 

 Katanga from time to time. The programme of intensive map- 

 ping has already been mentioned on page 52. 



PORTUGUESE 



Angola and Mozambique have geological departments as sec- 



